History Main / CardboardPal

[[folder:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[folder:ComicBooks]]
* Taking a leaf from Franchise/SherlockHolmes' book (see below), one early ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' story had him using a dummy of Bruce Wayne positioned in a window to fool an assassin.
* Franchise/{{Tintin}} uses this trick in ''Tintin in America''.

[[folder:{{Film}} - Live Action]]
* Carried out on a grand scale in ''Film/BlazingSaddles'', where the citizens of Rock Ridge built a mock-up of the whole town, complete with cardboard versions of themselves, so that the bad guys would attack the wrong town.
* In ''Film/HomeAlone'', Kevin uses several tricks, one of them a cardboard cutout of Michael Jordan, to fool the bandits into thinking the house is occupied and having a party.
* In ''Film/EscapeToVictory'' the POW's cover for Hatch's escape by holding a mannequin of him while in formation. The guards eventually catch on....
* Mrs. Hudson moves a cutout of Holmes back and forth behind the window to draw Colonel Moran's fire in ''Film/TheReturnOfSherlockHolmes2016''.

[[folder: Film - Animated]]

[[folder: Folklore and Mythology]]
* Pygmalion intended to create "the perfect woman" out of stone, since he believed flesh and blood ones to be inferior. Except CargoShip ensues, ultimately resulting in a PygmalionPlot.
* A tar baby is used to capture Br'er Rabbit.

[[folder:{{Literature}}]]

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

[[folder:ProfessionalWrestling]]
* {{Heel}}s will do this to mock their opponents. Wrestling/{{Ivory}} [[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xc4etx_ivory-and-chyna-segment_sport provides an example.]]
* Malia Hosaka's then new partner for her Wrestling/{{SHIMMER}} run, Lexie Fyfe...on a stick.

[[folder:Stand-up Comedy]]
* In one of his TV specials, George Carlin appeared with a cardboard cutout of his suit-wearing clean-shaven younger self from his early days in comedy. He said, "I used to be this guy. He used to be me."

[[folder:VideoGames]]

[[folder:WebAnimation]]

[[folder:WebComics]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

[[folder:RealLife]]

You need a certain character to be involved in some sort of activity. The certain character cannot/doesn't want to/will hurt you if you approach him/her. So what are you going to do? That's easy: you get a piece of cardboard and draw a crude image of the character on it. Or draw his/her face on a melon. Or anything like that. Nobody will know the difference.

* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'': Woody uses Buzz's arm to prove to the other toys that Buzz is with him, since he's currently under too much stress to pay any attention to Woody's requests to show himself, and having a detached arm isn't helping matters either. It fails horribly when he accidentally reveals that it’s not attached.

* In the ''[[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]]'' episode "[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S09E07Hobgoblins Hobgoblins]]", Mike and the 'bots get so fed up with the titular movie, they actually make cardboard cutouts of themselves and place them in the theater and the bridge along with some poorly acted messages playing on a tape recorder. They manage to fool everyone but Observer. During the ending credits, they perform a mock interview of the film's director Rick Sloane using another cutout and Crow doing the voice. The real Sloane was reportedly not amused: understandable since they claim that Sloane was "high on crack" and "had his brain replaced by rat droppings".

* Occurred in the last event of ''AkumaTH'''s "Last Chance" Arc. The Event was a four-on-four cage match between some of the strongest fighters in the series, with each fighter entering one at a time. WHen the BigBad enters the ring, he immediately walks over to the ref, causing everyone to worry about foul play... until he nudges the ref, revealing him to be a cardboard prop ("Are you seriously telling me that no one noticed this?"). As it turns out, the referee is watching the match through a live feed from outside the arena, as he was nearly killed while refereeing the first event.

* As a prank the folks at All Too Flat once created a large cardboard cutout version of the guy on the crosswalk sign, then put it in the middle of the street and see what happened.

* Creator/MichaelJackson refused to travel to England for filming of The Jacksons video for "Torture"; so they borrowed Michael's waxwork from Madame Tussaud's museum and used it as a stand-in -- both for the video, and for several jokes at the missing Jackson's expense.

* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'': Woody uses Buzz's arm to prove to the other toys that Buzz is with him. It fails horribly when he accidentally reveals that it’s not attached.

* Police in Australia used a cardboard cut-out of a police car partly hidden in the bushes by a highway to fool drivers into slowing down. Another trick involved a full-sized cardboard cutout of a police officer in a shop to make people nervous about shoplifting -- one imagines this was much less effective.

* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'': Woody uses Buzz's arm to prove to the other toys that Buzz is with him.

* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'': Woody uses Buzz's arm to prove the other toys Buzz is with him.

* In the Music/FleetwoodMac video for the song "Tusk", bassist John McVie was in Tahiti and unable to come to the filming at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. TO make up for his absence, Mick Fleetwood had a cardboard cutout of McVie made and carried it around with him, eventually placing it with the rest of the band.

* In one of his TV specials, George Carlin appeared with a cardboard cutout of suit-wearing clean-shaven younger self from his early days in comedy. He said , "I used to be this guy. He used to be me."

* Creator/MichaelJackson refused to travel to England for filming of the Jackson's video for "Torture"; so they borrowed Michael's waxwork from Madame Tussaud's museum and used it as a stand-in -- both for the video, and for several jokes at the missing Jackson's expense.

* Police in Australia used a cardboard cut-out of a police car partly hidden in the bushes by a highway to fool drivers into slowing down. Another trick involved a full-sized cardboard cutout of a police officer in a shop to make people would feel nervous about shoplifting -- one imagines this was much less effective.

* A CIA technique for dodging a tail involves this technique. A car with two agents turns a corner, then before the car following appears, the passenger jumps out and mingles with the pedestrians, while the driver pulls a lever, activating a pop-up cardboard cutout, making it look like there's still two people in the car. A CIA employee planning to defect used the same technique to dodge FBI surveillance, using a sex shop dummy.
* Police in Australia used a cardboard cut-out of a police car partly hidden in the bushes by a highway to encourage drivers to slow down.

* In ''[[Literature/VorkosiganSaga The Vor Game]]'' Emperor Gregor complains "I think I could be replaced at half my functions by a life-sized plastic model, and no one would notice."

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[AC:ComicBooks]]

[[AC:{{Film}} - Live Action]]

[[AC: Film - Animated]]

[[AC: Folklore and Mythology]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:Music]]

[[AC:ProfessionalWrestling]]

[[AC:Stand-up Comedy]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:WebAnimation]]

[[AC:WebComics]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

[[AC:RealLife]]

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* ''WesternAnimation/GrojBand'': When the band splis up in "It's In the Card", Corey compenstaes by making a fake band out of junk he finds in the garage and pretending its real.

* ''WesternAnimation/GrojBand'': When the band splis up in "It's In the Card", Corey compenstaes by making a fake band out of junk he finds in the garage ane pretending its real.

* In the ''[[Series/MysteryScienceTheatre3000 MST3K]]'' episode "[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S09E07Hobgoblins Hobgoblins]]", Mike and the 'bots get so fed up with the titular movie, they actually make cardboard cutouts of themselves and place them in the theater and the bridge along with some poorly acted messages playing on a tape recorder. They manage to fool everyone but Observer. During the ending credits, they perform a mock interview of the film's director Rick Sloane using another cutout and Crow doing the voice. The real Sloane was reportedly not amused: understandable since they claim that Sloane was "high on crack" and "had his brain replaced by rat droppings".

* In a mission in ''VideoGame/{{Hitman}} 2'', you are paid to assassinate a general in an Eastern European country. If you go to the suggested snipers-perch, you can see him clearly through a window - but if you shoot at him, he doesn't fall, and alarms goes off. If you sneak into the building, however, you'll be able to see him from behind and realize that he's a propped-up cardboard cutout. The whole thing is a trap, and a counter-sniper is waiting to kill you.

* ''VideoGame/{{Octodad}}'''s main objective in the first game is building one for himself, in order to give himself time to go out and buy a gift for his wedding anniversary.